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JOHN BROWN THE HERO 

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 
t 

J.W.WINKLEY M,D. 





Class '£4^/ 
Book '-^■'"' 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




Bu;<T OF John Browx. 
(^SeeXote.) 



JOHN BROWN 
THE HERO 

[personal IReminiscenceB 



J. W. WINKLEY, M.D, 

Editor of Practical Ideals and Author of " First 
Lessons in the New Thought." 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
FRANK B. SANBORN 



ILLUSTRATED 



7? 



BOSTON 
JAMES H. WEST COMPANY 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies KoceivMi 

JAN 24 1905 



) ^oii^naui entry 



GUHY B. 






Copyright, 1905 
By James H. West Company 



PREFACE 



THE sub-title, " Personal Remi- 
niscences," is rightly appended 
to this volume. The old say- 
ing, " Much of which T saw, and part 
of which I was," the author can truth- 
fully apply to himself in connection 
with the interesting and stirring oc- 
currences here recorded. He relates 
the events because they were, in large 
measure, personal experiences. And 
the narrative is made up, for the most 
part, of historical matter which has 
not been presented heretofore by any 
writer. In other words, it is history 
at first hand. 

Another and more particular reason 



6 Preface 

for the preparation of this little vol- 
ume is because it is believed by the 
writer that these narrations will serve 
to throw some especially valuable 
side-lights upon the subject of them. 
John Brown was one of the most 
unique characters in all our American 
history, and an original factor in an 
important part of that history. 

The volume will surely be welcome 
to all admirers of Brown, and it should 
be of considerable interest to the gen- 
eral public. 

It hardly needs mentioning here 
that the standard work on John Brown, 
giving very fully his life and letters, 
is that of the Hon. Frank B. Sanborn, 
who kindly contributes the Introduc- 
tion to the present volume. 

Boston, January, 1905. 



Contents 

PAOK 

Introduction 9 

I. A Call for Aid 19 

II. The Prairie Wonder .... 24 

III. The Night March 29 

IV. A Siege and its Heroine . . 35 
V. The March Resumed .... 43 

VI. vSeeking the Enemy 50 

VII. The Battle 55 

VIII. A Scene for a Painter ... 59 

IX. Brown's Night Appointment 62 

X. An Intrepid Charge .... 68 

XI. Brown to Our Prisoners . . 76 

XII. Hard Lines 82 

XIII. A Government Musket ... 88 

XIV. An Unfailing Guide .... 94 
XV. Hazardous Journeys .... 102 

XVI. The Osawatomie Battle . . iii 

XVII. Conclusion 121 



NOTE 

The frontispiece to this volume is a represen- 
tation of a bust of Captain Brown, conveying in 
so far a correct idea of the exterior man. 

This excellent bust, the best representation of 
him extant, was made from measurements taken 
by the sculptor in the Charlestown (Va.) prison, 
while Brown was awaiting trial there. The 
photograph was courteously furnished by the 
present owner of the bust, Mr. F. P. Stearns, 
of Medford, Massachusetts, whose father, Mr. 
Henry Steams, a life-long friend of Brown, 
caused the bust to be made. 

In other places in the volume are pictures 
of the log cabin of the Adair family, one an 
exterior view of it, the other an interior, for 
which we are indebted to Mr. F. B. Sanborn. 

Under this modest roof Brown often sought 
and never failed to find welcome resting-place 
and hospitahty. Mrs. Adair was his half-sister ; 
her husband, a Methodist clergyman, ministered 
to the spiritual needs of a scattered flock in the 
territor}-. 

The writer, on the occasion of a visit a few 
years since to Kansas to view the old familiar 
spots, found the cabin, almost the last of its 
race, not much changed outside or within from 
what it was in the former days. It is owned 
and occupied, as is the farm on which it stands, 
by a son of the pioneer minister. 



INTRODUCTION 



THE interest attaching to this 
little book demands from me 
some notice of its author, and 
of my indebtedness to him while pre- 
paring, twenty years ago, a " Life and 
Letters of John Brown," which has 
since become the basis of several 
biographies of that hero. Dr. J. W. 
Winkley, long a citizen of Boston, 
was one of those who, in 1856, became 
a Free State colonist of Kansas Ter- 
ritory, then the skirmish-ground of the 
long conflict between free labor and 
Negro slavery. His residence there 
was brief (1856 and 1857), as was 
that of many who went out in the years 
1 8 5 5-' 5 8 to take part on one side or the 



I o Introduction 

other of the contest ; but he had the 
good fortune, as a youth, in the percep- 
tive and receptive period of hfe, to come 
under the influence of a hero ; and 
this book portrays the incidents of 
that interesting acquaintance. Nearly 
thirty years later he communicated 
to me this story, and I succinctly 
mentioned it in my book. Bvit it 
required a fuller statement ; especially 
since it seems largely to have escaped 
the notice of the chroniclers of that dis- 
turbed and confused period of 1856. 
The partisan movements here de- 
scribed came in between two of 
Brown's famous fights, — that of 
Black Jack, in early June, when he 
captured the Virginian captain. Pate, 
and that in the end of August, when 
he repelled the formidable attack of 
the Missourians upon the small settle- 
ment of Osawatomie. The brothers 
Winkley and their comrades took up 
arms in the neighborhood of Osawat- 
omie, after the engagements of the 
first two weeks in August, which cul- 



Introduction 1 1 

minated in the capture of several 
camps or " forts " of the Southern 
invaders of eastern Kansas, August 
14 and 16. Fort Saunders, not far 
from Lawrence was taken by a Free 
State force under General Lane, 
August 14. On the i6th, another 
Pro-slavery " fort," garrisoned by a 
Colonel Titus, was captured, near 
Lecompton. The reason for these 
attacks was thus given by John 
Brown, Jr., then a prisoner at Le- 
C()m})t()n, guarded by Captain Sackett 
with a force uf United States dra- 
goons (August 16, 1856): 

" During the past month the Ruf- 
fians have been actively at work, and 
have made not less than five in- 
trenched camps, where they have, in 
different parts of the Territory, es- 
tablished themselves in armed bands, 
well provided with arms, provisions, 
and ammunition. From these camps 
they sally out, steal horses, and rob 
Free State settlers (in several cases 
murdering them), and then slip back 
into their camp with their plunder. 



1 2 Introduction 

Last week, a body of our men made 
a descent upon Franklin (four miles 
south of Lawrence) and, after a skir- 
mishing fight of about three hours, 
took their barracks and recovered 
some sixty guns and a cannon, of 
which our men had been robbed some 
months since, on the road from West- 
port, Yesterday our men invested 
another of their fortified camps, at 
Washington Creek. . . . Towards 
evening the enemy broke and fled, 
leaving behind, to fall into the hands 
of our men, a lot of provisions and 
lOO stand of arms. . . . This morn- 
ing our men followed Colonel Titus 
closely, and fell upon his camp (near 
Lecompton), killed two of his men, 
liberated his prisoners, took him and 
ten other prisoners, and with a lot of 
arms, tents, provisions, etc., returned, 
having in the fight had only one of 
our men seriously wounded. . . . 
This series of victories has caused 
the greatest fear among the Pro- 
slavery men. Great numbers are 
leaving for Missouri. ... I see by 
the Missouri papers that they regard 
John Brown as the most terrible foe 
they have to encounter. He stands 
very high with the Free State men 



Introduction 13 

who will fight, and the great majority 
of these have made up their minds 
that nothing short of war to the death 
can save us from extermination." 

Immediately following the date of 
this letter of young John Brown came 
the adventures which Dr. Winkley so 
well describes. They may have had 
no other chronicler ; and it is well 
that the testimony of an eye-witness 
should at last be given, ending with 
the striking incident, just following 
the Osawatomic fight of August 30, 
when young Winkley, in the log-cabin 
of the missionary Adair, husband of 
Brown's half-sister, saw John Brown 
sternly mourning over the body of his 
son Frederick, killed on the morning 
of the fight, on the high prairie above 
Osawatomie. I visited Mr. Adair in 
this cabin, in 1882, and talked with 
him on the events of that year of con- 
tention, and the pictures here printed 
of his prairie home are true to the 
fact as I then saw it. Two weeks 
after the burial of Frederick Brown, as 



1 4 Introduction 

mentioned by Dr. Winkley (September 
14, 1856), Charles Robinson, who had 
commissioned John Brown as captain 
nine months earlier, wrote to him by 
that title from Lawrence, and said in 
his letter : 

" Your course has been such as to 
merit the highest praise from every 
patriot, and I cheerfully accord to you 
my heartfelt thanks for your prompt, 
efficient, and timely action against the 
invaders of our rights and the mur- 
derers of our citizens. History will 
give your name a proud place on her 
pages, and posterity will pay homage 
to your heroism in the cause of God 
and humanity." 

Robinson was at this time the nom- 
inal leader of the Free State settlers, 
being their duly chosen State Gov- 
ernor under the Topeka Constitution ; 
and he became the first actual Free 
State Governor in 1 86 1 , when Kansas 
was admitted to the Union under 
another Constitution. Many years 
later, at the dedication of a monument 



Introduction 1 5 

commemorating the Osawatomie fight 
(August 30, 1877), Charles Robinson 
said, among other things : 

**The soul of John Brown was the 
inspiration of the Union armies in the 
emancipation war ; and it will be the 
inspiration of all men in the present 
and the distant future who may revolt 
against tyranny and oppression ; be- 
cause he dared to be a traitor to the 
government that he might be loyal to 
humanity." 

Dr. Winkley agrees in this state- 
ment of Robinson ; and his portrayal 
of the man as he was in the midst of 
surprises and responsibilities, but ever 
the same intrepid and resourceful 
leader, will add a new picture to those 
we already had of John Brown in 
action. Active or in chains, in the 
battlefield or in his Virginia prison, he 
always commanded attention, and re- 
ceived the applause of those who 
knew him. 

The verdict of the world has con- 
firmed this praise ; and of all the men 



1 6 Introduction 

connected with the dark and bloody 
story of Kansas, from 1854 till the 
close of the Civil War, Brown's name 
is the most widely known. Blame 
has been mingled with praise ; but 
the involuntary tribute paid, by the 
natural human heart, to invincible 
courage and unwearied self-sacrifice 
will insure the prevalence of praise 
over blame. Those who cannot ap- 
prove all his acts, as Dr. Winkley 
cannot, are yet con\dnced generally 
of the high purpose and grand result 
of his arduous Ufe. Richard Menden- 
hall, a Kansas Quaker, who knew him 
well but " could not sanction his mode 
of procedure," yet said, after Brown's 
death in Virginia : 

" Men are not always to be judged 
so much by their actions as by their 
motives. I believe John Brown was 
a good man, and that he will be re- 
membered for good in time long hence 
to come." 

Quite recently an English author, 
William Stevens, writing a history of 



Introduction 1 7 

slavery and emancipation, has occasion 
to name John Brown, and the warmth 
of his eulogy does not satisfy the cool 
judgment of that most reflective jour- 
nal, the London Spectator, which says : 

" Mr. Stevens asks if Brown did 
not see the forces moving towards 
abolition more clearly than did his 
friends who protested against the 
daring of his schemes : yet he em- 
phasizes too much, surely, the forlorn 
recklessness of the man's methods. 
But a more fearless, resolute, and 
cooler-headed man never lived. His 
family life, the devotion of his own 
flesh and blood to him, and his tender- 
ness were indications of a character 
intensely human, but also of a man 
who had counted the cost and knew 
that the individual must yield to the 
race. He lit, not a candle, but a 
powder-magazine ; and his last words 
prove that he foresaw, as plainly as 
man ever saw sunrise follow dawn, 
that blood, and blood alone, would 
loosen the shackles of the slave." 

Events, in fact, followed the track 
which Brown pointed out, and with a 



1 8 Introduction 

swiftness that startled even such as 
accepted his clear insight of the 
national situation. There was some- 
thing prophetic in his perception of 
the future ; he could not see well 
what was directly before him, but of 
the consequences of his action, and 
of that of other men, he had the most 
piercing and sagacious view. Such 
men appear on earth but rarely ; when 
they come, it is as martyrs and seers. 
Fatal are their perceptions, and to 
themselves as well as to the order of 
things they subvert. But it is more 
fatal to disregard the warning they 
give. Their remedy for existing ills, 
sharp as it must be, is for the healing 
of the nations and for the relief of 
man's estate. 

F. B. Sanborn. 

Concord, January, 1905. 



JOHN BROWN THE 
HERO 

Personal IRcminisccnces 



I 
A Call for Aid 

-^ 

IT was of an August morning in 
that eventful year of Kansas his- 
tory, 1856, in the gray of the 
earHest dawn, that a horseman came 
riding at full speed up the creek, the 
south branch of the Pottawatomie, 
from the direction of the lower settle- 



20 John Brown the Hero 

ments, and halted before our cabin 
door. 

The animal he rode was all afoam, 
and gave other signs of having been 
urged hard and over a long distance. 
As the rider dismounted, his nerv- 
ous and excited manner told us he 
was the bearer of ill tidings or that 
he was on some errand of unusual 
importance. 

*'What news below.?" was asked 
the stranger. 

" Bad news," he replied quickly. 
'* The Ruffians are over the border 
upon us again, in strong force ; and 
they are bent on * cleaning us out ' 
this time. If they keep on they 
won't leave a cornstalk standing to 
show where our crops grew." 

There is every reason to conclude 
that our informant was no other than 
James Montgomer)^, then all unknown 



A Call for Aid 2 1 

to fame, but who was later to distin- 
guish himself as a leader in the Kansas 
struggle for freedom. 

As the writer remembers him as he 
appeared that morning, he gave evi- 
dence of being a man of intelligence 
and character. He was tall, — some 
six feet in height, — rather slender in 
build, and of dark complexion. This 
answers the description given of 
Montgomery by those who knew him 
well. 

Montgomery afterward gained well- 
earned distinction by leading Free 
State settlers, banded together for 
self-defense, to fire upon United States 
troops, putting them to rout. He 
became, still later, a colonel in the 
Northern army at the outbreak of the 
Civil War. 

The trooper's story was soon told, 
as it needed to be, for there was no 



22 John Brown the Hero 

time to be lost. He was a messenger 
from the Middle River region, so- 
called, dispatched to us by his com- 
rades in distress. He had come 
twenty-five miles through the night 
and darkness, in an almost incredibly 
short time, stopping by the way only 
to arouse the scattered Free State 
men to arms. 

He had been sent to ask help. 
The need was pressing. The in- 
vaders were many, defiant, and reck- 
less. They had encamped in the 
neighborhood, were burning hay- 
stacks, foraging their horses in the 
cornfields, hunting down Free State 
men, and sending terror to the hearts 
of women and children. Detach- 
ments of marauders were sent out 
here and there on these errands of 
mischief. They had even penetrated, 
not twelve hours before, to within ten 



A Call for Aid 23 

miles of the spot where we stood ; 
had made prisoner and borne away a 
pronounced Free State man ; and, in 
addition to that, had besieged other 
Northerners in their log cabins and 
destroyed their property by pillage 
or fire, — as we shall see further on 
in our story. 



II 

The Prairie Wonder 



BY this recital of the messenger 
our sympathies were sufficiently 
enlisted ; but if anything addi- 
tional were needed, further to gain 
our attention, it was given then and 
there. 

As the speaker drew his narration 
to a close, all present instinctively 
turned their eyes in the direction 
whence he had come : namely, toward 
the south-east. There a sight met 
our gaze that riveted us to the spot 
— a spectacle as marvelous as it was 
beautiful, and singularly confirmatory 
of our informer's words. To our utter 



The Prairie Wonder 25 

astonishment we looked directly, at 
that moment, into the enemy's camp 
twenty miles away, though seem- 
ingly less than a quarter of that dis- 
tance. It was one of those peculiar 
phenomena, rarely seen on the water 
and less frequently on the land, and 
more wonderful in the latter case 
when it does thus appear, because 
more perfect and on a grander scale : 
the mirage. 

The prairie mirage is of wondrous 
beauty. It is usually in the autumn, 
when all the atmospheric conditions 
are favorable, that these strange illu- 
sions take place on the prairie ocean. 
Along the eastern horizon, near sun- 
rise, a narrow belt of silver light 
appears. As it grows broader the 
silvery gray of its lower side changes 
slightly golden. Fleecy clouds above 
the belt take on a yellow red. The 
grayish shadows of the dawn lift 



26 John Brown the Hero 

slowly from the earth. Just before 
the red disk of the sun peers above 
the horizon-line, one sees in the sky 
the landscape of trees, of waving 
grasses or grain, of rocks and hills, 
held together as it were by threads 
of yellow and gray and azure. The 
earth stands inverted in the air. 

The groundwork of this illusion is 
a grayish, semi-opaque mist ; and the 
objects are seen standing or moving 
along in it. The feet of animals and 
of men, the trunks of trees, the rocks 
and hillocks, are set in this aqueous 
soil. When the conditions are per- 
fect, objects far beyond the range of 
vision over the prairie are brought 
near and into plain view of the be- 
holder. 

That morning was such a time and 
afforded such a scene. There was 
the camp of the enemy, — miles 
away, as has been said, — mirrored 



'The Prairie Wonder 27 

perfectly and beautifully on the sky, 
every feature of it traced with the 
minuteness of a line-engraving. By 
the aid of our military field-glass we 
could see the early risers moving 
through the camp-ground ; the horses, 
standing patiently outside awaiting 
their morning meal ; the positions of 
the pickets keeping guard ; the tent- 
doors flapping in the slight breeze or 
swaying back and forth as the men 
made egress or entrance. Here and 
there were knots of soldiers, — of 
two or three or four men each, — 
apparently discussing the situation 
or lighting the early camp-fires for 
breakfast. Even the curling smoke 
of the newly kindled flame, as it as- 
cended upward, curiously traced itself 
visibly to the eye. 

But, what was of yet more interest 
and practical moment to us, we beheld 
the stacks of arms, the rifles and shot- 



28 John Brown the Hero 

guns, of our foe, reflecting their bur- 
nished steel, and the army-wagons for 
bearing their luggage and provisions, 
stretched along the exposed sides of 
their position to serve as barricades 
for defense in case of attack. More- 
over, there were the evidences on 
every side of wanton and cruel de- 
struction, — whole cornfields stripped 
or trodden into the dust, and the 
blackened sites or yet smoking re- 
mains of burned houses, corn-bins, 
and wheat-stacks, the property of the 
Northern settlers. 

Here we had, right before our 
eyes, direct demonstration of the 
truth that had just been told us. 
Deeply impressive was it indeed, and 
well calculated to fire us and to spur 
us to the rescue. 

Surely that effect it had. 



Ill 

The Night March 

IT would perhaps suffice here, so far 
as the main point in our story is 

concerned, simply to say : We went 
to their relief. But I am tempted to 
give a brief account of that march, 
and of the incidents by the way, as 
affording the reader some idea of the 
difficulties and vicissitudes of that 
Western-border, Kansas warfare. 

In the settlement of the South 
Pottawatomie river there were thirty- 
six men and boys, all told, capable of 
bearing arms. They had been or- 
ganized into a company, and were 
officered and drilled ready for emer- 



30 John Brown the Hero 

gencies. But, inasmuch as they were 
scattered up and down the creek over 
a distance of some miles, to inform 
all, and for each to make ready, and 
for all to get together occupied the 
swift hours of nearly the entire day. 

Ammunition was to be collected ; 
provisions were to be packed for the 
journey ; horses were to be gathered 
up from the prairie and bridled and 
saddled. And, withal, preparations 
were to be made for home defense 
and for the care of the women and 
children to be left behind. These, 
though few, were all the more 
precious. The males who were sick 
or wounded, lame or otherwise dis- 
abled, constituted the *' Home Guard." 

Finally, the leave-taking of wives 
and little ones, though hastily made, 
also consumed time, so that the sun's 
rim already dipped the western horizon 
before we were well under way. 



"The Night March 31 

The march thus taken up was one 
into a night of terror of which we 
little dreamed when we set out. 

We had not gone far before dark- 
ness settled down upon us. The sky, 
cloudless through the day, became 
overcast, and one could hardly see 
his hand before him. Only with 
great difficulty could we keep our 
direction and follow the trail over the 
prairie. 

But the possibility of losing our 
way was the least of our troubles. 
In marching at all that dark night 
we ran fearful risks. Of that fact 
we were perhaps only too unduly 
conscious. Fortunately, however, the 
perils we feared we did not encounter. 
Some of them we escaped by the 
merest and luckiest chance. And 
some of the dangers were wholly 
imaginary, though they were none the 
less harassing on that account. To 



32 John Brown the Hero 

our excited minds, a foe lurked behind 
every bush ; in every thicket and 
cluster of underbrush was the enemy 
in ambush. 

Our apprehensions were augmented 
by the rumor which twice met us 
that the "Border Ruffians" had com- 
menced their march up the creek at 
nightfall, as we began ours down. 
The terribly anxious, distracted state 
of mind we were in it is difficult to 
portray to the reader. It was mainly 
owing to the doubt and uncertainty 
as to everything. 

This is the case, naturally, in all 
such warfare. It is otherwise where 
there are regularly organized military 
operations. In the latter case, by a 
proper system of spies and scouts, 
the general is of course kept informed 
of the whereabouts of the enemy, of 
their numbers, and of their move- 
ments. 



T'he Night March i^i^ 

With us it was wholly different. 
The air was full of rumors, — all 
perhaps unreliable ; yet it was not 
safe to let them go unheeded. If we 
gave no heed to the reports we might 
find ourselves attacked wholly un- 
expectedly. 

We were not cowards, I will vent- 
ure to assert, and as the sequel will 
abundantly show ; but such uncer- 
tainty and suspense were terribly try- 
ing to the nerves, especially on such 
a night, and in such darkness ; — ten 
times more so than real battle would 
have been. With open daylight and 
a fair field we would not have hes- 
itated a moment to fight double our 
own number. But the thought of 
being mowed down in the darkness 
by an ambushed foe, without the 
chance of striking back in defense, 
was truly a harrowing situation. 

On the way we had several lesser 



34 John Brown the Hero 

or larger streams to ford ; and, in 
that prairie country, all such were 
densely wooded. At any of these 
points, a dozen men well posted would 
have been equal to six times their 
number, and could have cut us off 
almost to a man. 

Every unusual noise grated upon 
our senses. Twice we halted and 
prepared to repel an attack. But the 
alarms were needless : one was occa- 
sioned by a drove of cattle crossing 
the prairie, the other by a herd of 
wild deer startled from their lair. 

Twice we took a vote whether we 
should continue our march, or in- 
trench in a good position and await 
patiently the enemy or the daylight. 
Once the ballot was a tie, and only 
by the casting vote of our com- 
mander. Captain Anderson, was it 
decided to proceed. 



IV 

A Siege and its Heroine 

THE population of the region, 
friends and foes, were now up 
in alarm. Reports met us of 
the outrages of the Ruffians upon 
Free State settlers the night pre- 
vious. 

Here is the story of one of the 
depredations, detailed to us at one 
of our halts. 

It was upon a stanch old German 
and his family, settled near the junc- 
tion of the North and South branches 
of the Pottawatomie. Old Kepler, 
as he was nicknamed, had not taken 
any leading or even active part in the 



;^6 John Brown the Hero 

"troubles" (as they were termed), 
but his strong anti-slavery sentiments 
had cropped out and were known to 
the enemy. 

They now made directly for his 
cabin, evidently resolved, as the op- 
portunity might offer, to force him to 
declare himself for one side or the 
other. No man, in fact, in those 
days of the Kansas conflict, — par- 
tisan, bitter, bloody, — could long 
occupy anything like neutral ground. 
If one undertook to " sit on the 
fence,*' he soon became a target for 
both parties and was relentlessly dis- 
lodged. 

It was not the nature of the old 
German to dissemble, when the trial 
came. On the approach of the Ruf- 
fians he prepared for the worst, as he 
expected no favor. He barricaded 
his cabin door and refused their de- 
mand for admittance. They burned 



A Siege and its Heroine 37 

his wheat and hay stacks, and all his 
outbuildings, and then called upon 
the besieged to surrender. 

It was believed, probably rightly, 
by the assailants, that the old man 
was possessed of considerable money, 
brought with him from the old coun- 
try'. This lent incitement to their 
attack ; while, if true, the fact was 
undoubtedly an additional motive on 
his part for keeping the invaders at 
a distance. 

Brave old Kepler was quite ad- 
vanced in years. He was about three 
score and ten, but all the old valorous 
Teutonic blood in his veins was 
aroused, and he prepared to resist 
the spoilers even to the death, if 
need be. His wife, partner of his 
New World adventures and toils, had 
succumbed not long before to the 
frontier hardships and had passed on. 
He had one son, a chip of the old 



38 John Brown the Hero 

block, brave, strong, and inured to 
the rough Western life, equally inter- 
ested with the father in carving out 
their fortunes in this new country, 
and in the making of their Western 
prairie home. 

And there was an only daughter, 
alike the support and solace of both 
father and brother; — the light, in- 
deed, of the household and of the 
neighborhood. 

I must interpolate a word here, in 
passing, descriptive of this daughter, 
— the worthy heroine of the event, 
as we shall see. She was a light- 
haired, blond - complexioned young 
girl, with all the proverbial German 
fairness, — bright and handsome as 
a prairie flower. And she had the 
German habit of taking a share in 
the work in the open field. Often 
was she seen by the passers up and 
down the creek, ** chopping in corn " 



A Siege and its Heroine 39 

(as they call it in the West), — keep- 
ing even step in the row with her 
robust brother ; or now driving the 
cattle while he held the plough ; then 
changing work with him, guiding the 
share while he drove the oxen. 

Her household duties, however, were 
not neglected meanwhile. Doubtless 
the brother, in return, here gave her 
a helping hand. Nowhere else on 
the road (as the writer can testify 
from personal experience) did the 
weary and hungry traveler find such 
bread as when thrown upon the 
Keplers' hospitality, — bread of this 
young girl's manufacture. 

Besides all this, — and appropri- 
ately to be said in this connection, — 
this fair maiden could handle a rifle 
on occasion, as we shall presently 
see. Such ability was often a quite 
useful accomplishment for the gentler 
sex on our wild Western border. It 



40 John Brown the Hero 

proved eminently so in the case be- 
fore us. 

The yelling, hooting, and now 
drunken mob began at length to fire 
upon the cabin at its vulnerable 
points. The heroic inmates returned 
the shots through the holes between 
the logs in the loft, and not without 
effect. One of the assailants was 
seriously wounded and several others 
less so. The battle grew warm, the 
effusion of blood thus far serving 
only to increase the wild fury of the 
besiegers. 

The father and son stood with 
their guns at the openings, while the 
young girl loaded the pieces for them 
as fast as they were emptied. At 
length the baffled and maddened 
crowd changed their tactics. They 
managed to pile wood, logs, and rub- 
bish against the cabin, hoping to fire 
the building. There was danger that 



A Siege and its Heroine 41 

the dastardly effort would prove only 
too successful. The flames began to 
crackle. All now seemed lost, when 
suddenly the brave daughter unbarred 
the cabin door and sprang forth with 
a bucket of water in her hand to dash 
out the newly kindled flames. This 
was done from the girl's own impulse 
at the moment. Had they divined 
her intention, the father and brother 
would not have allowed it. The feat, 
however, strange to say, was as suc- 
cessful as it was heroic and peril- 
ous. 

The surprised besiegers were not 
actually cowardly and base enough to 
fire upon the unarmed, defenseless 
girl. However, one of them sprang 
from his covert behind a tree to seize 
her. But the old backwoodsman 
father, watching breathlessly the 
scene below from his post in the 
loft, — his hand and eye steadied to 



42 John Brown the Hero 

perfect accuracy by the imminent 
danger, — sent a rifle-bullet straight 
to the heart of the venturesome 
wretch, and he fell forward dead at 
the maiden's feet. 

The girl regained the door and, 
with the aid of her brother, who 
hastened to her assistance, rebarred 
it securely. All was now again safe 
for the time being, — and perma- 
nently, as it proved. The marauders, 
overawed by this episode and by the 
generally unexpected course of affairs, 
— one of their number being actually 
killed and several others more or less 
severely wounded, — hastily fell back 
to a safe distance and finally beat a 
retreat from the neighborhood. 



V 
The March Resumed 



IT did not require the narration of 
this stirring tale to nerve our for- 
ward movement, but it certainly 
increased our determination to pro- 
ceed at all hazard. 

Our next halt was made at the 
cabin, some miles further on, from 
which, as mentioned in the first chap- 
ter, the young man whom we all knew 
and counted as one of us had been 
borne off a prisoner. As soon as it 
was made known, by the usual signs, 
that we were friends, we were joy- 
fully if tearfully greeted. The fam- 
ily, consisting of aged parents, sister. 



44 John Brown the Hero 

brother's wife and little children, were 
in despair. Dreadful anxiety filled 
their minds. It was an illustration 
of the saying that "• to know the worst 
is better than suspense." If in the 
great cause then firing their hearts 
this family had seen that son and 
brother shot down before their eyes, 
they would have borne the affliction 
silently and with submission. But 
the terrible uncertainty as to his fate 
wrought upon them. A price had 
previously been set upon the young 
man's head, and they had reason to 
fear the worst for him. 

It must be added, in passing, that 
his beloved ones never saw him again 
alive. The good fortune fell to us to 
liberate him the next day from his 
captors, when we found him bound 
upon his horse, with his hands lashed 
behind him and his feet tied together 
under the animal ; but, alas ! his lib- 



I'he March Resumed 45 

eration gave him only a short respite 
from death. He fell, only a few days 
after, heroically fighting at the battle 
of Osawatomie. 

Some miles beyond we had to 
make that ford of the Pottawatomie 
river of unenviable fame, and which 
we looked upon as the danger-point 
of all others in our journey ; for there 
our enemy, we thought, would most 
likely be in ambush. But we swam 
the swift, dark, muddy stream, swelled 
by recent rains to a flood, with the 
water up to our horses* backs, luckily 
without hindrance or serious mishap. 

That ford was the notorious Dutch 
Henry's crossing, so-called, — surely 
a gloomy, gruesome, and dreaded spot 
at that dark midnight hour. There, 
close by, had been enacted, just 
two months prior, the rightly named 
Pottawatomie tragedy, which made 
that locality, on account of this 



46 John Brown the Hero 

bloody event, verily for the time the 
"storm center" of the Kansas con- 
flict. But, terrible as it was, it served 
a great purpose and was speedily 
followed by good. 

The hero of our sketch was the 
central figure in this tragic act of the 
Kansas drama, as he was in most 
others at this trying period. Brown 
was the cyclonic force, the lightning's 
flash in the darkness, that cleared 
and lighted the way for the men of 
that day. 

Despite all delays on the way, we 
made our forced night - march of 
twenty-two or more miles in remark- 
ably good time, and arrived at our 
destination about two o'clock in the 
morning, as weary, exhausted, and 
hungry a set of troopers as ever drew 
rein and slipped stirrup to seek rest 
and refreshment. 

It will be of interest to our readers 



^he March Resumed 47 

to learn here that, a couple of miles 
from the town, — our halting place, — 
we passed the log cabin of the Adair 
family, which has such historic inter- 
est gathered about it, and which we 
shall have occasion to mention again 
later. 

It so happened, as we learned after- 
ward, that the hero of our story lodged 
under that roof that night. He was 
aroused from his slumbers and watched 
us from the window as we marched 
past, — having been reliably assured, 
by our advanced guard, that we were 
no threatening foe, but his firmest 
and safest friends. 

A photographic view of the cabin's 
exterior is given on the opposite page, 
as it appears to-day ; and nearly the 
same as it existed at that early date, 
now almost fifty years ago. 

The town referred to was Osa- 
watomie, soon to be made famous by 



48 John Brown the Hero 

the man who is the principal subject 
of these sketches. 

We were challenged by friendly 
pickets on guard, who escorted us to 
the old " block-house " reared for 
town defense, where we were glad to 
find shelter, and especially to find 
food, for hungry we were indeed. 

To what a sumptuous feast were 
we welcomed on that occasion ! And 
yet, strange to relate, the recollection 
of it is not calculated to make one's 
mouth water. It so happened that a 
side of bacon and a barrel of hard- 
tack were stored there, for just such 
emergencies as the present one, and 
these were now pressed into our 
service. 

Their edible condition was such as 
naturally to suggest certain Scripture 
phrases as descriptive thereof ; — of 
the bacon, " ancient of days "; and of 
the biscuit, " fullness of life." As we 



T^he March Resumed 49 

crunched the latter between our teeth, 
the pecuUar, fresh, sweet - and - bitter 
taste, comminghng at every mouth- 
ful, told us too well of the " life " 
ensconced therein. No comments 
were made, however, except the ejac- 
ulation occasionally, by one and an- 
other, ** Wormy ! " " Wormy ! " 

However, nothing daunted, we 
paused not in our eating till our 
ravenous hunger was appeased. And 
then, on the bare floor of boards, 
rived roughly out of forest trees, — 
though it was a little difficult to fit 
our forms to their ridges and hollows, 
— we gained a few hours of as sweet 
and refreshing slumber as ever visited 
mortal eyes. 



VI 

Seeking the Enemy 

-^ 

IT will be asked, perhaps, why we 
came to this particular place. In 

this little town were encamped, at 
this particular time, Captain John 
Brown and his daring and trusty 
band of men. 

" Old Brown," as he was most 
often called, was a tower of strength 
in time of need. He had become by 
that time a veritable terror to the 
enemy. Tell a Border Ruffian : 
**John Brown is coming," and he 
would shake in his shoes, or would 
run away had he strength enough left 



Seeking the Enemy 51 

for locomotion. Missouri mothers 
frightened their babies to sleep or 
to quietude by the sound of his 
name. 

If our information were correct, 
the foe we sought largely outnum- 
bered us. What more natural than 
that we should, under the circum- 
stances, desire the counsel of the 
stanch old man, and his help, if 
needed. 

He had not looked for an invasion 
from the direction at present threat- 
ened, but was daily expecting one 
from another quarter. He detailed 
two small companies. Captain Shore's 
and Captain Cline's, — two-thirds of 
his own command, — to join our 
force ; then bade us seek the enemy, 
with the direction, if we found them 
too strong for us, to send back word 
to him, whereupon he would come 



52 John Brown the Hero 

to our aid. Meanwhile, he said, he 
would stay with the remainder of his 
men and guard the town. 

We set out in the morning, early 
and hopefully. Scouts with fleet 
horses were dispatched in advance, 
and we rapidly followed after. Ru- 
mors of all wild and exaggerated sorts 
met us as we went. First, it was 
said, there were three hundred of the 
enemy, well armed and mounted ; 
then there were five hundred men, 
strongly intrenched to receive our 
attack ; later, there were a thousand, 
coming to meet us. 

At last we began to be a little 
apprehensive, possibly a grain fright- 
ened. In the uncertainty, a mes- 
senger was sent back to Captain 
Brown to say that probably we should 
need his help. 

But we resolutely pushed on, if 



Seeking the Enemy 53 

with somewhat slackened speed. Pres- 
ently a scout returned bearing reliable 
tidings. The position and strength 
of the invaders had been quite accu- 
rately ascertained. They were about 
three hundred in number, quietly 
encamped, and as yet unaware of our 
approach. 

Our officers decided not to wait for 
Captain Brown to come up, but to 
press forward to the attack and by 
celerity of movement gain what ad- 
vantage was possible. 

One point was, nevertheless, taken 
into consideration. We were but 
about sixty in number, all told. We 
were prepared and determined to do 
some hard fighting if necessary ; but, 
it was argued, if we could take the 
enemy by surprise, \ictory would be 
more fully assured us, and much 
needless spilling of blood might be 
avoided. 



54 John Brown the Hero 

We therefore proceeded cautiously 
till we arrived within two miles of 
the hostile force, where our advanced 
scouts had taken up position and were 
actually looking down with spy-glasses 
into the enemy's camp and watching 
their every movement. The foe 
seemed wholly unconscious of any 
impending danger. 



VII 
The Battle 

N less time than it takes to relate 
it, the plan of battle was arranged. 
Our men were divided into three 
companies. Two divisions were to 
make flank movements, one on the 
right and the other on the left of the 
foe, while the third was to assault 
directly in front. The plan of attack 
was well conceived and as success- 
fully executed. 

We had a circuit of some miles to 
make to gain the flank positions. It 
was quickly and silently traveled. In 
our division, detailed on the left flank, 
hardly a word was spoken during a 



56 John Brown the Hero 

two hours' march. Each man was 
busy with his own thoughts. It is 
said that persons in critical situations 
will sometimes have their whole Uves 
pass before them. I believe that 
most of us, during this march, re- 
called nearly all we had ever done 
or seen, known or felt. 

We were suddenly awakened, at 
length, from such reveries, by the 
crack of rifles and the clash of mus- 
ketry, and by bullets actually whiz- 
zing about our ears. So closely had 
we stolen the march on them that 
when we opened fire we were actually 
more in danger from the guns of our 
friends than from those of our foes. 

The enemy were taken completely 
by surprise. As prisoners whom we 
took told us afterward, they thought 
that <* Old Brown " was surely upon 
them ; and their next and only 
thought was of escape. They left 



the Battle 57 

all, and ran for dear life, some on 
foot, shoeless and hatless ; others 
springing to their horses, and, even 
without bridle or saddle, desperately- 
making the trial of flight. Perfectly 
bewildered, they ran this way and 
that ; and naturally, as our forces 
were positioned, many ran directly 
into our hands. 

The one thing they did not do well 
was to fight, except in the case of a 
few desperate ones and of the leaders, 
who called in vain upon their men to 
rally. Then they gave up all for 
lost, and each looked out for himself. 
Many discharged their pieces at the 
first onslaught, but so much at ran- 
dom that not a man of our number 
was fatally injured, though several 
were more or less severely wounded. 
We took many prisoners, and cap- 
tured some thirty horses, all the 
enemy's wagons and luggage, and 



58 John Brown the Hero 

much ammunition and arms. The 
victory was complete. 

Not until all was over did Captain 
Brown and his reserve come up, 
though they had ridden hard to lend 
us a helping hand. He warmly con- 
gratulated us, however, upon our good 
success, saying that he could not have 
done it better himself, and that he 
was just as glad and proud of our 
victory as though he had won it. 



VIII 
A Scene for a Painter 

THERE were incidents not a few, 
connected with the day and with 
the central figure of our sketch, 
which would add interest to our pages. 
One there was which especially im- 
pressed itself upon all witnesses of 
it. 

This relates to one of the enemy 
who was fatally wounded in the 
battle. He desired very much, he 
said, to see " Old Brown " before he 
died. 

Captain Brown was informed of 
the wish, whereupon he rode up to 
the wagon which served as ambulance, 



6o John Brown the Hero 

and, with somewhat of sternness in 
his manner, said to the prisoner, 
" You wish to see me. Here I am. 
Take a good look at me, and tell 
your friends, when you get back to 
Missouri, what sort of man I am." 

Then he added in a gentler tone, 
" We wish no harm to you or to your 
companions. Stay at home, let us 
alone, and we shall be friends. I 
wish you well." 

The prisoner meanwhile had raised 
himself with great difficulty, and 
viewed the old man from head to 
foot as if feasting his eyes on a great 
curiosity. Then he sank back, pale 
and exhausted, as he answered, *'J 
don't see as you are so bad. You 
don't talk like it." 

The countenance of Brown as he 
viewed the sufferer had changed to a 
look of commiseration. The wounded 
man saw it, and, reaching out his 



A Scene for a Painter 6i 

hand, said, " I thank you." Brown 
tenderly clasped it, and replied, " God 
bless you," while he turned with 
tears in his eyes and rode away. 

The present writer was standing 
within a few feet of Brown at the 
time, and naturally drank in the scene 
with a boy's eager curiosity and sus- 
ceptibility to impression. 

It was a scene for a painter, and 
the artist could with appropriateness 
have called his work, <'The Conqueror 
Conquered." 

But it was perfectly illustrative of 
the man and of the hero. Brown 
was as brave as a lion. He seemed 
absolutely not to know fear. Yet 
withal he possessed a heart tender 
as a child's or as the tenderest 
woman's. 



IX 
Brown's Night Appointment 

-^ 

WE gathered together the spoils 
and took up our march on 
the backward track toward 
home, discussing the exciting events 
of the day and recounting to each 
other our individual experiences, ad- 
ventures, and " hairbreadth escapes." 
When we had thus proceeded some 
three miles, it was nearing sundown, 
and we halted for supper and to de- 
termine our course for the night. 

Meanwhile we had learned an 
important fact from our prisoners, 
namely : that we had not met all of 
our enemies. A part of them, quite 



Brown's Night Appointment 61^ 

a large force, had gone north that 
morning, and might be at that very 
moment ravaging our own homes 
which we had left behind the evening 
before. Naturally, these unwelcome 
tidings cast a cloud across our rejoic- 
ings. They might after all be turned 
to mourning ! 

Having nearly finished our meal, 
and while we were yet speculating on 
the situation, Captain Brown hastily 
rose to his feet and called upon all 
those, who were ready to go with him, 
to mount their horses. Forty or 
more men instantly sprang into their 
saddles, and others were about to do 
the same, when the old man cried, 
" Enough — and too many." He 
thanked them for their readiness, and 
then selected thirty of the number, 
tried and trusted men who had fol- 
lowed him before, and without asking 
why or whither. In the present in- 



64 John Brown the Hero 

stance also they ventured not a ques- 
tion. 

Brown seldom disclosed his inten- 
tion or plans to any one. He wished 
no man with him who was not ab- 
solutely reliable. He required the 
implicit confidence of his followers 
and unquestioning obedience to his 
commands. Whoever put himself 
under his leadership took his life in 
his hand and followed whithersoever 
he was led. 

On this occasion some not ac- 
quainted with his habits plied him 
with queries as to where he was going 
and what he would do. He only 
answered, characteristically, that he 
" had an appointment with some 
Missourians and must not disappoint 
them." One ventured jocosely to 
ask further, concerning the appointed 
place of meeting. He replied, they 
had not been kind enough to fix upon 



Brown's Night Appointment 6^ 

the precise spot, but he felt bound, 
out of courtesy, inasmuch as they 
came from a distance, to hold himself 
in readiness when wanted. This left 
us, of course, wholly in the dark as 
to his movements. 

With some words of advice to 
those of us remaining, — that we 
would better seek our homes, be 
prepared to defend them, and ready 
for any action when needed, — he 
gave the command, " Ready ! For- 
ward ! " and, with a wave of his 
hand, led his Knights Errant away. 
After they had departed it was 
decided that it would be advisible for 
us to return to the camping-ground 
of the enemy and pitch our tents 
there for the night ; because, it was 
argued, when the detached force gone 
north returned, they would naturally 
seek their friends in the camp where 
they left them. 



66 John Brown the Hero 

Accordingly, though weary near to 
exhaustion, we returned and camped 
there, threw out our pickets, and 
made every preparation to give the 
marauders a warm reception should 
they appear. We slept on our arms, 
ready for any emergency, but the 
night passed and we were undis- 
turbed. 

The next morning dawned on us 
clear and beautiful. All our appre- 
hensions of danger had passed with 
the darkness. Our pickets were with- 
drawn. The scouts, who had been 
sent out to gather news of the scat- 
tered settlers, had come back with no 
tidings of the foe we had awaited. 
Consequently, relieved of all military 
restraint, we gave ourselves up for 
the time to the preparation and en- 
joyment of an early breakfast. 

The wagons were unpacked of 
their provisions. The horses were 



Brown's Night Appointment 67 

picketed, or were turned loose for 
grazing. The prisoners, disarmed, 
were allowed comparative freedom. 
Fires were lighted here and there for 
cooking. And thus we were spread 
out over a large area, forgetful of 
the enemy, without a thought of an 
attack, and bent only on making 
ready to satisfy the cravings of 
hunger. 



X 

An Intrepid Charge 



THEN occurred the scene which 
gives us one of the glimpses of 
John Brown for the sake of 
which these reminiscences have been 
written. 

Suddenly, over the hill or rising 
ground some half or third of a mile 
away, two horsemen came up at full 
speed. 

''Look! look!" was whispered in 
suppressed voices from one to another 
of our party, and all eyes were up- 
turned in that direction. 

Observing us, the horsemen as 



An Intrepid Charge 69 

suddenly turned on their heels, and 
disappeared the way they came, leav- 
ing us stupefied with doubt and 
wonder. 

In a moment more, however, the 
heads of a whole troop rose in sight, 
and the cry, " The Missourians ! 
the Missourians ! " rang through our 
camp in startling accents. 

We were in dismay, for we were 
entirely unprepared for attack and 
there was no time to make ready. 
We were apparently caught just as 
our enemy had been surprised by 
ourselves. Men sprang, some for 
their arms, some for their horses. 
Whether to fight or to try to escape 
was uppermost in their minds, — each 
could settle that question only for 
himself. At any rate, every one felt 
that a daring and determined foe, 
apparently numbering a hundred, 
which was double our own number. 



yo John Brown the Hero 

could, in the condition in which we 
were, utterly cut us to pieces and 
destroy us at a blow. 

What grave emotions that thought 
aroused ! It is difficult for one, 
never thrown into any such situation, 
to realize or in any degree even im- 
agine the feelings that may surge 
through the bosom of men thus 
placed. Accounts have been given 
of what panic-stricken crowds or 
armies will sometimes do, but a 
description of what they feel on 
such occasions of disaster was never 
yet fully penned or painted by 
man. 

Meanwhile, some of our number, 
who had been cool enough to observe 
the fiercely advancing cavaliers, per- 
ceived that they were friends, not 
foes. It was old Captain Brown 
himself and his trusty band. With 
joy, this news rang through our 



An Intrepid Charge 71 

ranks. All eyes were then directed 
toward them, enchained and en- 
chanted. It was a splendid sight. 

They at first, naturally, took us 
for enemies, not dreaming but that 
we were miles away, where they left 
us the evening before. They sus- 
pected us to be the force, encamped 
there, which they had been riding all 
night to overtake, — the same force 
we had awaited. 

They came swiftly up over the 
brow of the hill, in full view, with 
Brown at their head, and, without 
halting or even slackening their 
speed, swung into line of battle. 
Only thirty men ! yet they presented 
a truly formidable array. The line 
was formed two deep, and was 
stretched out to give the men full 
room for action. Brown sprang his 
horse in front of the ranks, waving 
his long broadsword, and on they 



72 John Brown the Hero 

came, sweeping down upon us with 
irresistible fury. 

It was indeed a splendid and fear- 
ful sight, never to be forgotten by 
the beholders. Only thirty men ! 
yet they seemed a host. In their 
every action, in their entire move- 
ments, seemed emblazoned, as in 
their determined souls it was written, 
*' Victory or death ! " 

Their leader looked the very im- 
personation of Battle. Many of us 
had seen John Brown before, some 
of us a number of times, and under 
trying circumstances. But now all 
felt that the real man we had never 
before beheld. The daring, the in- 
trepidity, the large resources of the 
man, none of us had imagined till 
that moment. 

Not a gun was discharged, their 
commander having given to his men 
the same strict orders that were 



An Intrepid Charge 73 

given at Bunker Hill of old, that 
they should *♦ reserve their fire till 
they could see the whites of their 
enemy's eyes." But before they 
had quite gained that very danger- 
ous proximity to us, we succeeded 
in making them understand that we 
were their friends. 

Then such a glad shout as rent 
the air from both sides was seldom 
ever heard, we believe, on any field 
even of victory. They were as glad 
to find that we were their friends, 
as we, in our helpless condition, were 
glad to learn that they were not our 
enemies. 

The full intrepidity of Brown and 
his men, though it appeared to us 
astounding, was not fully appreciable 
till we came to look at it somewhat 
from their own view-point. 

We were actually about eighty 
men, prisoners and all. But, spread 



74 John Brown the Hero 

out as we were, with the many 
horses grazing, the scattered and 
unpacked wagons, numerous camp- 
fires, — widely separated for con- 
venience, — arms stacked in some 
places, and men gathered in groups 
in others, we presented altogether a 
formidable appearance. What was 
more, this was enhanced by our 
peculiar position, so that, to them, 
our numbers and strength were ex- 
aggerated, while our weakness and 
confusion were concealed. Brown 
admitted to us himself, afterward, 
that he thought he was undertaking 
to whip a force of two or three hun- 
dred, while his men declared that 
they believed they were actually 
charging upon not less than a thou- 
sand. 

Brown's quick military eye took in, 
at the first, the supposed situation; 
and, as in a flash, he decided what to 



An Intrepid Charge 75 

do. All depended, he concluded, upon 
rapidity of action. His only hope 
lay in striking a sudden and crush- 
ing blow, for which we were unpre- 
pared, and from which we could not 
recover till he had made victory sure. 
From the time Brown's forces came 
in sight over the hill, till they were 
within gunshot of us, hardly thirty 
seconds elapsed, — a very short notice 
in which to prepare for action, even 
if an attack were expected. 



m^^^mim 



XI 

Brown to Our Prisoners 



AFTER mutual congratulations 
over the bloodless and happy 
conclusion of the adventure, we 
set our friends down with us to eat the 
interrupted breakfast, to which they 
were prepared to do ample justice. 
They had ridden all night, some forty 
or fifty miles, in pursuit of the enemy, 
— had ridden all night, without rest or 
food, from the time they left us, at dusk 
of evening, till they surprised us that 
morning with their dauntless charge. 

Another incident in connection 
with the events described it seems 
fitting to mention, as affording a very 



Brown to Our Prisoners 77 

interesting side-glance at the charac- 
ter of our hero. After the meal, 
Captain Brown was asked by our 
officers to give a talk to the prisoners 
taken the day before, who were now 
drawn up in line for parole. He 
responded without an instant's hes- 
itation or a moment to think what 
he should say. 

He spoke to them in a plain, sim- 
ple, unpretentious way, but with a 
directness, a force, and an eloquence 
withal, which doubtless wonderfully 
impressed those addressed, as cer- 
tainly it held spell-bound all others 
who listened. Such vivid and in- 
delible impression did this speech 
of Brown make on the mind of the 
present writer that, even after the 
lapse of these many years, he is able 
to reproduce it, not only in sub- 
stance, but almost word for word ; 
and he has no doubt of its excep- 



78 John Brown the Hero 

tional character. Perhaps it was 
second only to that immortal address 
which the hero made three years 
later to the court at his trial in 
Virginia, which Emerson pronounced 
one of the three most remarkable 
addresses in the world. 

On the latter occasion, however, 
instead of a few plain, simple, rough 
and ready, but intensely admiring 
followers, he had almost the whole 
civilized world eagerly to hear and 
sacredly to preserve his utterance. 

Brown's speech to the prisoners 
was probably not over five minutes 
long in its delivery, but it lasted 
those forty trembling men a lifetime. 
It was not known that one of them 
ever afterward ventured over the 
Missouri border into the Kansas 
territory. 

The address was as follows : 



Brown to Our Prisoners 79 

" Men of Missouri, one of your 
number has asked to see John Brown. 
Here he is. Look at him, and here- 
after remember that he is the enemy 
of all evil-doers. 

"And what of you 3^ourselves, 
men ! You are from a neighboring 
State. What are you here for > You 
are invaders of this territory, — and 
for evil purposes, you know as well 
as we know. You have been killing 
our men, terrorizing our women and 
children, and destroying our property, 
— houses, crops, and animals. So 
you stand here as criminals. 

" You are fighting for slavery. 
You want to make or keep other 
people slaves. Do you not know that 
your wicked efforts will end in mak- 
ing slaves of yourselves .? You come 
here to make this a slave State. You 
are fighting against liberty, which our 
Revolutionary fathers fought to estab- 



8o John Brown the Hero 

lish in this Republic, where all men 
should be free and equal, with the 
inalienable rights of life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, 
you are traitors to liberty and to your 
country, of the worst kind, and de- 
serve to be hung to the nearest 
tree. 

<' But we shall not touch a hair 
of your heads. Have no fear. You 
are deluded men. You have been 
deceived by men who are your elders 
but not your betters. You have 
been misled into this wrong, by 
those your leaders ; thus, they are 
the real criminals and worse than 
traitors, and, if we had them here 
instead of you, they would not find 
such mercy at our hands. 

'* You we forgive. For, as you 
yourselves have confessed, we believe 
it can be said of you that, as was said 
of them of old, you being without 



Brown to Our Prisoners 8i 

knowledge, 'you know not what you 
do.' But hereafter you will be with- 
out excuse. 

" Go in peace. Go home and tell 
your neighbors and friends of your 
mistake. We deprive you only of 
your arms, and do that only lest some 
of you are not yet converted to the 
right. We let you go free of pun- 
ishment this time ; but, do we catch 
you over the border again commit- 
ting depredations, you must not ex- 
pect, nor will you receive, any mercy. 

" Go home, and become liberty- 
loving citizens of your State and 
country, and your mistakes and mis- 
deeds, as also the injuries which you 
have inflicted upon us, will not have 
been in vain." 



XII 
Hard Lines 

THE personal experiences here 
related are of interest and have 
a value mainly as they throw- 
somewhat of fresh light upon the 
character of the subject of this work, 
Captain Brown, and upon the events 
and times in which he was the leading 
actor. 

Those were troublous times, — 
times that indeed ''tried the men's 
souls" who experienced them. The 
hardships were severe. Danger and 
disease, death by ruthless hands, and 
even death from starvation, often 
stared us in the face. At one time 



Hard Lines 83 

we lived six weeks solely on Indian- 
meal mixed with water and dried 
before the fire, and that without even 
a condiment. This was our common 
fare in times of scarcity. Bacon and 
molasses, and tea without milk or 
sugar, were our luxuries in times of 
plenty. 

For months, in the summer of '56, 
the men in our settlement never had 
their clothes off, day or night, unless 
torn or worn off. On a trip early in 
the summer mentioned, made by a 
companion and myself to Kansas 
City for provisions, we chanced to 
come across John Brown and his 
company encamped in the woods on 
a river-bank. After we made our- 
selves known as friends we were 
invited into their camp. A more 
ragged set of men than we found 
were rarely, we believe, ever seen, 
— Brown worst off of all, for he 



84 John Brown the Hero 

would not fare better than his men. 
They had no shirts to their backs, 
and their outer clothing was worn 
or torn to tatters. While in camp, 
they were going barefoot to save the 
remnants of their worn-out shoes for 
emergencies. And withal, they were, 
they said, on short rations, having 
no bread, but only Indian-meal and 
water. They were glad of the op- 
portunity to engage us to bring them 
provisions on our return, but they 
confessed they were as short of 
money as they were of provisions, 
which simply meant that we must 
share ours with them. 

The men of our company worked 
hard by day to raise crops, with their 
rifles near at hand, and slept in the 
'^bush" at night to avoid surprise 
and capture in their cabins. Only 
the women and children ran the risk 
of remainino; in the houses, in their 



Hard Lines 85 

defenselessness trusting to the mercy 
of the enemy. That border life invited 
sickness, especially the malaria of the 
low prairie. Our cabins were roughly 
made, and so open that when it rained 
it was about as wet inside of them as 
outside. 

We had not time to dig wells, and 
in mid-summer the rivers were low 
and the water so stagnant that we 
had to brush the green scum from 
the surface when we dipped the water 
to drink or for other uses. Every 
man, woman, and child of the settle- 
ment was ill with the ^' fever and 
ague," so termed. There came near 
being an exception to the rule. One 
man kept so full of whiskey, contin- 
uously, that the ague didn't seem to 
have even a fighting chance; but at 
length the liquor fell short, and the 
ague then found its opportunity and 
even made up for lost time. 



86 John Brown the Hero 

As for fire-arms with which to 
defend ourselves, we were not well 
off. The famous Sharpe's rifles — 
" Beecher's Bibles," so-called, from 
the great preacher's contribution of 
them — won Kansas to freedom in 
large measure ; but more by their 
terrible name than by virtue of any 
large number of the weapons them- 
selves. The Free State men in 
Kansas actually had few of them. 

When my older brother, with whom 
I went to the territory, and myself 
called on Theodore Parker in Boston, 
— for one thing to ask him if those 
going to Kansas would be helped to 
fire-arms, — he said he was sorry that 
his previous contributions had left 
him "nary red" which he could give 
for the purpose, and he referred 
us to the Aid Society. We con- 
cluded, however, to depend on our 
own means, though slender, and so 



Hard Lines 87 

bought, to use between us, one 
Sharpe's rifle for twenty-five dollars. 
We thought it might be useful to bring 
down prairie hens and wild turkeys, 
if not needed for more serious use. 

This was the only Sharpe's rifle 
owned in our settlement of thirty-six 
men and youth able to bear arms. 
The members of our company, in 
fact, at this early period in the 
Kansas troubles of which we write, 
were very slimly accoutered for war- 
fare, and the writer actually went into 
the battle of Sugar Mound, described 
in previous pages, with an old, worn- 
out flint-lock rifle, being a boy put off 
with the poorest weapon, which, with 
the greatest care, he could not dis- 
charge more than once in a half- 
dozen times' trying. And it was the 
only weapon he had until he made 
prisoner a Missourian and possessed 
himself of better arms. 



XIII 
A Government Musket 

-^ 

WHAT does the reader suppose 
these arms were ? The one 
of interest was a United 
States army musket, altered over from 
a ''flint-lock" to a modern " percussion- 
cap," — a very effective fire-arm. It 
will be seen that we had to contend 
not only with the Border Ruffian, but 
with the greater ruffian at that time 
behind him, the United States Govern- 
ment itself, which was covertly lending 
its influence and even its arms on the 
side of slavery. Those Government 
guns were stored at Fort Scott, on 
the Missouri border, and the Pro- 



A Government Musket 89 

slavery men were allowed to help 
themselves to them. 

That Government musket I in- 
tended to keep as a souvenir of 
Kansas times ; but later, on the 
occasion of coming down the Mis- 
souri river, when boarding the steam- 
boat with this musket in a common 
gun-case, I thoughtlessly, on enter- 
ing the main saloon, stood it in a 
conspicuous corner. It was soon 
afterward noticed, — '' spotted," as 
the phrase went, — and I heard some 
one whisper, ''Kansas." A rough- 
looking passenger approached the 
piece, removed its case in examining 
it, and inquired in a loud voice for 
its owner. Everybody was now all 
interest. It was a time when the 
Kansas excitement was at its height, 
and passions ran wild. 

The cry, " Yankee ! Yankee ! " 
burst from the crowd. "Overboard 



90 John Brown the Hero 

with him ! Overboard ! Overboard ! " 
was howled, and " Yankee ! Yankee ! " 
again rang out in hot, angry tones. 

The subject of these gentle re- 
marks, it goes without saying, was 
surely one of the most interested 
spectators of the scene of all the 
members of the crowd, and, as was 
quite politic, joined in the outcries. 
The odds seemed to be decidedly 
against him, and dissent was surely 
unwise. Apparently there was not 
another Eastern man on board, and 
this one felt — as once a Western 
man said he did when expecting to 
be lynched by a howling mob — ''a 
little lonesome." Very fortunately 
for him, no one observed that he was 
in any way connected with the inter- 
esting implement of warfare. Had 
it been discovered that he was the 
owner of that musket, — well ! he 
would probably not be here now to 



A Government Musket 91 

tell his story. If the possessor of 
it, on the contrary, had proved to 
be a '' Pro-slavery " from the terri- 
tory, he would immediately have 
been lionized as a hero. 

<^ All's well that ends well." The 
only matter of regret to the owner 
was that he lost sight and possession 
forever, that troublous night, of his 
souvenir musket. It was secretly 
made away with by some one's hands, 
under cover of the darkness. 

An incident in the story of the 
musket we may here relate, on ac- 
count of its probable significance, 
not apparent at that time, but re- 
vealed at a later date. 

As we were making our way 
leisurely from the battlefield at Sugar 
Mound, the opportunity was afforded 
me to show Captain Brown my share 
of the trophies of our recent victory. 
He seemed rather indifferent as he 



92 John Brown the Hero 

looked at the revolvers, the fine 
powder-horn, the shot-bag, and the 
cartridge-pouch ; but when he caught 
sight of the musket he grasped it 
eagerly and scrutinized it with intense 
interest. On the gun-stock was in- 
scribed : *' Made at the U.S. Armory, 
Harper's Ferr}^, Va.," — or words to 
that effect. 

When, three years later, occurred 
that startling episode in our history 
at Harper's Ferry, Brown's scrutiny 
of the musket was recalled by me 
and apparently found its explanation. 
It raises the question. How long had 
he contemplated carrying the war 
into Africa .-* 

In Brown's view, slavery was war, 
aggressive and in actual operation. 
Therefore, any attack on the institu- 
tion was virtually defensive warfare, 
legitimate and justifiable. He was 
a worshiper, heart and soul, at lib- 



A Government Musket 93 

erty's shrine, and to his mind no 
sacrifice in its cause was too great or 
costly. In that Hght must be inter- 
preted his hard saying : " It would 
be better that a whole generation of 
men, women, and children should be 
sacrificed than have liberty perish 
from the earth." 



XIV 

An Unfailing Guide 

-^ 

THE youngest male member of 
our Kansas party, hardly more 
than a boy, was possessor of 
a peculiar psychical faculty — very 
fortunately for us during all our 
troublous experiences in the terri- 
tory. It was a modest gift, but an 
exceedingly useful one to us under 
the exceptional circumstances in 
which we often found ourselves, and 
this not alone to its owner, but to the 
whole company. It cannot be better 
designated, in brief, than as the fac- 
ulty of " finding the way," the term 
usually employed in speaking of it. 



An Unfailing Guide 95 

It probably will not lessen the 
interest of the reader in the matter 
if he is here told that the writer of 
this account himself was the happy 
possessor of this useful power. From 
a boy, a mere child, he may say, it 
was known among his playmates 
that he could lead them safely and 
surely to any place or object, when 
there was doubt about its locality, 
and could also discover the where- 
abouts of things lost. The shyness 
of the boy led him to keep his gift 
in the background. 

In Kansas it was as suddenly as 
remarkably made prominent perforce. 
It came into use the first day after 
we set out on our journey over the 
prairie. We had not gone far from 
the borders of civilization, — only far 
enough for its objects to be out of 
view, — when our whole caravan of 
travelers, their teams, horses, oxen. 



96 John Brown the Hero 

and wagons, came to a full stop. 
The trail over the prairie branched 
into two, and all were in doubt which 
was the right one to take. The 
clouds had shut in the sun, and the 
boundless prairie stretched out on 
all sides, with not an object, house 
or tree, hill, or even a rock, in view, 
as a landmark by which we could 
aim our course. One of the party, 
with a little experience in traveling 
on the prairie, warned us that an 
error made here might mislead us a 
whole day's journey. 

The situation began to be a little 
distressing ; whereupon the older 
brother of the psychic boy said : 
"Call up my brother. He will tell 
you which trail to take." Accord- 
ingly, the boy was summoned to the 
front ; and to the older heads, wait- 
ing there with amused smiles on their 
faces for the decision, he pointed 



An Unfailing Guide 97 

out what, in his belief, was the right 
trail. Being wholly in doubt, they, 
with their smiles deepening to laugh- 
ter, said they might as well follow 
the trail he indicated. It turned out 
to be the correct one. 

During the following ten or a 
dozen days' journey, as many times 
at least the youth was summoned to 
the front, and his psychical faculty 
put to the test. Its possessor was 
made happy, and his companions 
were equally gratified, that his power 
in no instance failed him. 

These trails, mere wagon - tracks 
across the country, ran in amost all 
directions, crosswise, parallel, and at 
all angles, and were enough to puzzle 
the very elect, — the elect being in 
this instance the psychic youth. The 
earnest wish to find the way in any 
case — and the stronger and more 
earnest the wish the better — seemed 



98 John Brown the Hero 

to be a sort of mainspring to the 
action of the power to insure its 
success. 

This gift was brought into play 
many times during the two years of 
Kansas events sketched here, and 
served us well ; was often invaluable. 
The fact just mentioned, that the 
strong wish insured its effectiveness, 
was often clearly shown. For in- 
stance, on the occasion referred to 
in a previous chapter, of our happen- 
ing upon Captain Brown's camp in 
an out-of-the-way spot on our trip 
for provisions, there was a strong 
desire on our part, excited, perhaps, 
much by curiosity, to see Brown and 
his men at that particular time in 
their temporary hiding-place ; and 
seemingly by this intense desire in- 
citing the psychic power, we were 
led to the spot, — for it had taken 
us, as we found afterward, quite a 



An Unfailing Guide 99 

number of miles out of our direct 
course. 

In passing, we will here digress a 
little from our story to say that, at 
this time of our visit, Brown was 
being hunted down, like a criminal 
or a wild beast, by the Government 
military as well as by his other 
enemies, and was all the time liable 
to betrayal into their hands. 

I remember well, in this connec- 
tion, how we found him armed that 
day. He carried about his person 
not less than twenty shots with 
which to defend himself did it 
become necessary : a Remington 
repeater — six shots ; a brace of re- 
volvers — six-shooters ; and a pair 
of pistols. He had also a long knife 
or dirk, and his usual trusty old 
broadsword. Most of these arms, 
he seemed to take pains to inform 
us, were presented to him by his 



lOO John Brown the Hero 

friends. Particularly did the old 
man impress me, while showing us 
the weapons, when he quietly re- 
marked : '* Our enemies would like 
much, no doubt, to get hold of me; 
but," he added with sternness, " I 
will never be taken alive, and I warn 
them I shall punish them to the 
extent of my power if they attempt 
my capture." 

To return from this digression, it 
was a perilous thing in those days 
for one to venture out alone on the 
prairie. It was perilous to life, and 
perhaps still more dangerous to the 
property of him who ventured, — at 
least in some ways. For one thing, 
we did not dare to risk our horses. 
Horses were valuable, and the enemy 
considered them as legitimate con- 
traband of war. The luckless horse- 
man caught abroad by his foes was 
simply ordered to dismount. His 



An Unfailing Guide loi 

horse, saddled and bridled, was led 
off, and the owner was left to make 
his way on foot, no matter how far 
the distance. When a team without 
a load was overtaken by our oppo- 
nents, the horses were appropriated 
and the wagon left standing on the 
prairie. Were the wagon loaded with 
valuables, both animals and wagon 
were confiscated, and their owner 
was told, very likely with rifles 
pointed at him, to run for Hfe till 
out of sight. In such cases, were 
one found with money or other val- 
uables on his person, he was sum- 
marily relieved of them. Sometimes 
we sewed our money within the 
lining of our clothes, for safety ; but 
that device for concealment had its 
risks. One was liable to be stripped, 
and to have his clothing cut or torn 
to shreds in the hurried search for 
the money. 



XV 

Hazardous Journeys 

-^ 

SUCH were some of the hazards 
of travel at that time, when the 
new territory was indeed " bleed- 
ing Kansas." 

Journeys, nevertheless, had to be 
made, and long ones, and many of 
them from sheer necessity. We 
were obliged to buy in a distant 
market all the food we ate, with all 
other necessaries of life. Shipment 
of goods must be made by ox-teams 
— the use of horses being out of 
the question, for the reasons men- 
tioned ; and the ox-team was rather a 
slow means of transportation. Some 



Hazardous Journeys 103 

ten days were necessary to make the 
journey from our settlement to the 
nearest good market, Kansas City, 
and return. 

There was another matter we had 
to consider. The journeys were 
hazardous to men as well as to 
horses. Men were valuable and 
scarce. Not more than two at most 
were ever allowed to go on these 
dangerous errands, and usually one 
only. 

It is not strange, as will readily 
be understood, that the boy who 
could *'find his way" was for that 
reason chosen to make these trips, 
and he generally went alone. An- 
other reason for this choice was that 
the settlers would not run the risk 
of sacrificing their mature, strong 
male members in this service, could 
it be avoided. This youth be- 
cause a youth, with no one, wife or 



I04 John Brown the Hero 

children, dependent upon him — 
would not be so great a loss to the 
community if capture, imprisonment, 
or death befell him ! He was, how- 
ever, inspired by, and felt not a little 
pride because of, the confidence re- 
posed in his ability to perform the 
difficult and dangerous task assigned 
him. 

Quite a number of these trips I 
made alone, and in not one did I 
lose my way. On one occasion the 
guiding faculty was put to a severe 
test. At the end of a day's travel 
the oxen were freed as usual from 
the wagon for two or three hours, 
in order that they might graze. 
Meanwhile, strict watch of them 
was necessary, lest they should 
wander away. That night, through 
much exhaustion and lack of rest, it 
was my misfortune to fall asleep. 
When I awoke, long past midnight, 



Hazardous Journeys 105 

the cattle were gone. The full 
moon shone brightly overhead, light- 
ing up the horizon far away on all 
sides ; but, far and wide as the eye 
could reach, no sight or sign of the 
animals was visible on that prairie 
ocean. 

A serious state of things this ap- 
peared to be, at first thought, and 
it awakened serious apprehensions. 
Far from home, I was left with my 
valuables on the prairie, bereft of all 
means of taking them to their des- 
tination. But upon second thought, 
often the better, I calmly fell back, 
for rescue, on my humble psychic 
faculty. Humble and inconsequen- 
tial I had held it, but, if it served 
me true this time, it never again 
should be lightly valued. 

It proved as true as the needle 
to the pole. 

It seemed to me that the cattle 



io6 John Brown the Hero 

had gone in a certain direction ; and 
in that direction I went, in a straight 
hne over the prairie, three or four 
miles, directly to them. There they 
were, quietly feeding, close to a 
stream at which they had evidently 
quenched their thirst. They were 
led, doubtless, to find this water, in 
their need that night, by an instinct 
similar to, and equally as unerring 
as, that possessed by their owner 
which he had used to find them. 

Whether the same instinct that 
*' found the way" in the instances 
related served to secure successful 
avoidance of the enemy on these 
journeys will not be asserted ; but 
this interesting fact can be affirmed, 
namely, that, happily for the lone 
teamster and for the settlers whose 
property, whether money or pur- 
chases, was intrusted to his care, 
not once were dangerous foes en- 



Hazardous Journeys 107 

countered on these trips, and only 
in one instance was there a near 
approach to it. 

One day three horsemen appeared 
on the horizon in the rear, bearing 
down upon me. When we have not 
strength sufficient, we are prone to 
resort to strategy for protection or 
to extricate ourselves from difficulty. 
On board my wagon, the usual large 
"prairie-schooner," covered with can- 
vas, was a box of firearms which, 
with foolhardiness, I had undertaken 
to deliver in Osawatomie. For one 
to transport arms was to invite the 
services of the executioner. 

I had reason that day, however, 
to thank my foolhardiness. At first 
sight of the approaching horsemen I 
sprang into the cart, forced off the 
box-cover, and stuck several of the 
gun-muzzles out under the sides of 
the wagon-canopy. 



io8 John Brown the Hero 

And another reason I had for 
thankfulness that day. It had been 
my good fortune that summer, while 
lying ill of the ague, to learn a little 
of the ventriloquist's art from a half- 
breed Indian. The accomplishment 
served me well now. As the strange 
horsemen closely approached, I was 
busy carrying on a conversation, 
ventriloquist-wise, with my imaginary 
companions inside the covered wagon. 

'' Lie still and make up your sleep. 
Lie still. No danger." 

** Who is it .? " (from the wagon.) 

" They are travelers," was an- 
swered ; " friendly, no doubt. Lie 
still and get your sleep." 

(From inside the wagon) " Whistle 
if you want us." 

Answer : "O yes, I will. Lie still. 
No danger, — they're friends." 

By this time the troopers were 
alongside. They looked hard at me. 



Hazardous Journeys 109 

but harder at the gun-muzzles, made 
the usual "good-day" greeting, asked 
a few questions, and rode on. My 
little artifice had worked like a 
charm. My visitors, I felt little 
doubt, had planned and meant mis- 
chief ; had probably been in search 
of my team, possibly for days, incited 
by hope of rich plunder. 

This record of personal experi- 
ences will serve the main purpose 
for which it is written if it lays bare 
to the reader in some degree the 
difficulties and dangers, the trials 
and sacrifices, of the Free State 
settlers whom John Brown led at 
last to victory in the Kansas struggle 
for freedom. 

In closing this chapter, I will give 
my readers the only explanation I 
am able to proffer of the strange 
faculty of localization which has been 
mentioned. No voice is heard, noth- 



1 1 o John Brown the Hero 

ing like an impression is felt, there 
is no experience of any occult power 
of vision. Indeed, I have already 
stated all that I am conscious of, in 
the words, "it seems to me" that 
the object of quest, or the locality 
sought, lies in a certain direction 
or place, whenever this faculty is 
brought into play to find it. 



XVI 
The Osawatomie Battle 

"^ 

THE engagement at Sugar Mound 
(also called Middle Creek) took 
place on Monday, the 25th of 
August. Five days later, on Satur- 
day, August 30th, was fought the 
really famous battle of Osawatomie, 
the Bunker Hill of the Kansas 
struggle. 

In the early dawn of that day 
some four hundred of the enemy, 
well mounted and equipped, — with 
their bayonets glistening in the morn- 
ing sun, — bore down upon the de- 
voted town and its stanch defenders. 
There, in that day's notable battle. 



112 John Brown the Hero 

John Brown showed that he pos- 
sessed real military talent. In this 
case he was acting on the defensive, 
and manifested coolness and caution 
equal in effectiveness to the dash and 
daring displayed on other occasions. 

To our settlement on the South 
Pottawatomie, the same thing oc- 
curred on this memorable occasion 
as on the earlier one already de- 
scribed. A rider came up the creek 
twenty miles, asking for our aid. 

This time the messenger was sent 
by Brown himself, and there was a 
similar ready and willing response to 
the call, even though we had so lately 
arrived home. There was the same 
eager hurrying to and fro to get our 
force together, the same quick prep- 
arations, hasty leave-taking, setting 
out at dusk, and the like night-march. 
We made all possible haste to the 
rescue. 



I'he Osawatomie Battle 113 

Before midnight, however, when 
we had covered only half the dis- 
tance to our friends in distress, a 
scout met us with unwelcome news, 
which, to our dismay, ran : " Battle 
at Osawatomie, John Brown killed. 
Free State men defeated, and the 
town burned to ashes." Moreover, 
our informant thought it probable 
that the victors were on their way 
to lay waste our settlement. 

The only thing now to be done 
was to return to our homes, and to 
make ready, if the need came, to 
defend them. One prior thing it 
was decided it would surely be well 
to do, namely : dispatch two scouts 
to our friends at the scene of disaster 
and get accurate information of their 
fate or fortune. 

The choice fell upon the two 
brothers, the writer and his older 
brother, and for the reason (comfort- 



1 14 John Brown the Hero 

ing to them) that, being the youngest 
men, with none dependent upon them, 
their loss, were they killed, would be 
less to the community than the loss 
of older men. And besides, one of 
them was good at " finding the way " 
and the other had won a reputation 
for extra courage and trustiness in 
emergencies. We were assigned, to 
say the least, a rather delicate and 
hazardous duty, and probably there 
were few men in the company that 
night anxious or willing to under- 
take it. 

Bidding our comrades adieu, we 
mounted two of our best horses and 
proceeded on through the night. 
Being obliged, for safety, to avoid 
both the " open " and the main road, 
we could make our way but slowly, 
and so did not reach the vicinity of 
Osawatomie till daylight. We kept 
in hiding during the day, spying 



I'he Osawatomie Battle 1 1 5 

around the city of desolation and 
trying to learn of the presence of 
foes or if any of our friends were 
still alive. After nightfall we cau- 
tiously approached the log-cabin on 
the outskirts of the town, where, if 
anywhere, we knew we should most 
likely find friends. It was the home 
of the Adairs, relatives of John Brown. 

There we learned from them the 
story of recent events. Captain 
Brown had not been killed, as was 
reported, though he was wounded ; 
but there in that humble cottage, 
folded in the embrace of death, lay 
one of his sons, the tall, handsome 
Frederick Brown, as noble-looking as 
he was noble of soul, the fourth of 
that now historic band of six hero- 
sons, worthy scions of their hero- 
father. 

As the Pro-slavery invaders were 
marching into Osawatomie, two of 



1 1 6 John Brown the Hero 

their scouts, at some distance from 
the town, met this son of Brown 
with a companion named Garrison, 
and in cold blood, without provoca- 
tion, shot down the unarmed men. 
Their whole force of four hundred 
or more horsemen then trampled 
over the bodies, leaving them to lie 
there all day in the hot August sun. 
Late that same night, Sunday even- 
ing, as we lingered in conversation 
with the family, the old father, hav- 
ing learned of the death of his son, 
returned to take a last look at his 
remains. Here again, surely, was a 
scene for a painter, in that lowly cabin 
that night. If a picture of it, as those 
bright young eyes saw it in all its 
realistic setting and color, could have 
been faithfully depicted on the artist's 
canvas, and thus preserved for us 
to-day, it could not fail to be of more 
than common historic interest. 



The Osawatomie Battle 1 1 7 

As Brown bent over the lifeless 
form of his boy, there was not a 
word of complaint from his lips, nor 
any look of revenge on his face, — 
only deep, silent grief, and falling 
tears, and humble submission to the 
Almighty will. Then he hurried away 
to the morrow's duty, after expressing 
his wishes as to the disposal of the 
remains of his son. 

Yes, one thing more, doubtless. 
He carried awa}- in his heart that 
night a deeper abhorrence of the 
institution which had virtually in- 
spired the blow and aimed the bullet 
that had ended that young life. 
The scene in that lowly cabin that 
night was to remain, at any rate, 
ineffaceable in the memory of the 
few who were witnesses to it. 

On the opposite page is given an 
interior view of the Adair log-cabin, 
taken while Mr. Adair was still living. 



1 1 8 John Brown the Hero 

and representing him sitting in his 
accustomed chair in the main room 
of the house, — the room where lay 
the body of Brown's son, F'rederick, 
and where the father sadly viewed it. 

The battle of Osawatomie was 
surely a remarkable engagement. 
Brown, with a handful of men has- 
tily gathered together and placed in 
position, kept long at bay more than 
ten times their number. The stand 
was made in the edge of the timber, 
on the near bank of the river. 
''There," said Brown modestly in 
his account of the battle, '' we had 
exceptional opportunity to annoy the 
enemy." 

The first onslaught of their foes, 
who marched gaily as if to sure vic- 
tory, was met by a steady, deter- 
mined fire from Brown and his men, 
so destructive as to make the ranks 



^he Osawatomie Battle 1 1 9 

of their assailants reel, break, and 
then hastily retreat. Again and yet 
again they re-formed their broken 
lines, and renewed the attack, suffer- 
ing terrible punishment each time, 
till their leaders could rally them no 
longer. 

At that time the gallant little 
band of defenders, out of ammunition 
and with their ranks sadly thinned, 
thought it wise to retire across the 
river. Their foes, crippled and shat- 
tered, had no heart to follow, and 
the battle ended. It only remained 
for spite and revenge to find vent 
in the burning of the town. 

We need not recite details here ; 
they are matters of history. And 
yet some uncertainty has hung over 
that engagement. The invaders, in 
the chagrin and shame of their more 
than failure, proceeded to conceal or 
falsify the facts. And never was 



I20 John Brown the Hero 

there greater temptation to falsifica- 
tion. The certainty of Brown's anni- 
hilation at their hands they had loudly 
trumpeted beforehand, but their own 
defeat had occurred instead. 

The account of the battle written 
soon after by Brown to his family 
was near to the truth, and is borne 
out by all reliable testimony. About 
thirty of the assailants were killed, 
and the usual ratio of wounded would 
be some seventy-five or eighty. 



XVII 
Conclusion 



IN concluding these reminiscences 
it only remains to be said, of the 
subject of them, that in the writer's 
opinion John Brown was a great man ; 
and he believes that this will be the 
verdict of the future upon him when 
misconceptions and prejudice are 
blown to the winds. John Brown is 
one of the most unique characters 
in all our history. In a way, he 
stands almost alone, and deserves, if 
only for that reason, a place in the 
Hall of Fame far more than many 
a one who has been given a niche 
therein. 



122 John Brown the Hero 

John Brown was a hero. Our 
country has brought forth no greater 
one. He was of the very substance 
and essence of self-sacrifice. What 
higher can be said of any one of 
our humankind } Everything, posses- 
sions, reputation, life, he was ready 
to throw into the scales against 
wrong and for the cause of human 
liberty, human rights, and justice, 
which were to him as sacred, as 
divine, as the God he worshiped. 
Love of them was the consuming- 
passion of his soul, and to fight for 
them, to live and die for them, was 
to him the highest duty of man. 

The ablest minds have been the 
most appreciative of the high qualities 
of John Brown, — for example, Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, of our own country, 
and Victor Hugo, of France. It is 
Edward Everett Hale who has pro- 



Conclusion 1 23 

nounced him '* our great American 
martyr." Nothing could be finer than 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson's trib- 
ute : *' It must be conceded that John 
Brown was the most eloquent of all 
our great Abolitionists, for his was 
the eloquence of a life." 

Let not our readers conclude that 
we are attempting to glorify Brown's 
militant course, or that we would 
inspire the spirit of war. We cele- 
brate the great soul. 

John A. Andrew said : *' Whatever 
might be thought of John Brown's 
acts, John Brown himself was right." 
That sentiment so touched the pop- 
ular heart at the time that it went 
far to make Andrew governor. 

We may accept fully and wholly 
the man, though we approve not his 
methods. Brown derived his ideal, 
in its spirit, so to speak, from the 



124 John Brown the Hero 

New Testament ; but his ideal of 
action was rooted in the Old Dis- 
pensation. The one is wholly worthy 
our following, the other is not. 

One can allow that this is true, 
though he hold that the old or past 
was inevitable, and that Brown did 
the best possible at the time and 
under the circumstances. That is no 
reason why we should go on imitat- 
ing his example ; but we cannot be 
enough filled with his spirit. 

The truth, we think, may be told 
in a word : John Brown belonged to 
the " old order," which is passing 
away. Heaven speed its end ! He 
was a man of war, whatever else he 
might be ; though it seems surely to 
be shown that he was much besides. 
While we would do him full justice, 
while we glorify the spirit he was of, 
we must turn to our higher ideal, — 



Conclusion 1 2 5 

those of the '' new order," the men of 
peace. The spirit of both may be the 
same, their methods are as opposite 
as the poles. 

Tolstoi has given us the key that 
opens to us the coming ideal : " It 
is better to suffer wrong, even with- 
out limit, than to do wrong even in 
the least." 

This represents the meaning of 
Tolstoi, though it may not be ex- 
pressed in just his words. That ideal 
is far in advance of mankind in gen- 
eral to-day, but the world is moving 
surely if slowly toward it. The spirit 
that actuated John Brown — that of 
self-sacrifice for what he believed to 
be the good and true, and his entire 
devotion to liberty and right — is to 
be more and more alive, and more 
truly than ever "marching on." 

The North will more and more 



126 John Brown the Hero 

appreciate and honor John Brown, 
as time goes on ; and we shall not 
wonder very much if even the South 
some day builds a monument to his 
memory. For it is simple justice, and 
not flattery, to say that no men ever 
lived who possessed higher courage 
or had a finer sense of what is heroic 
than the true Southerner. 



mi 24 1905 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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